Here goes the step-by-step guide of moving Windows 10 from HDD to SSD with DiskGenius Free edition. Step 1 Free download, install and run DiskGenius Free from your computer, and click Tools System Migration, as follows: Step 2 Select destination disk. The pop-up window lists all disks except system disk, and you need to find out and choose.
SSD firmware and support. You may have read about a recent report describing a potential security vulnerability in our MX100, MX200 and MX300 products as well as another manufacturer’s products. While this vulnerability can only be exploited by an individual with physical access to the drive, deep technical SSD knowledge and advanced.

A) Select the hard drive or partition that you want to install Windows 10 on, and click/tap on the Drive Options (advanced) link. If the hard drive or partition that you have selected is shown as unallocated, then you can just click/tap on the Next button and go directly to step 16 below instead since it is already empty. Click on Clone - Disk Clone on the main interface. Select the Windows 10 system hard drive (eg: Disk 0) and click Next button to continue. In the next window, select the larger SSD as destination (eg: Disk 1) and click Next button to continue. Tip: you will get the warning to delete or overwrite the destination disk, select Cancel.

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Need to Clone a Hard Drive to SSD in Windows 10?

“Recently, I bought a notebook where genuine Windows 10 is already installed but the hard drive is just 1TB HDD and Windows 10 runs really slowly. I want to clone the hard drive to an SSD in Windows 10 and I don’t have the installation disk cos Windows was already installed. Plz can you help me.”

In this scenario, your PC might have a hidden recovery partition which you can use as an installation disk. You will need to copy all of the boot related files from this partition and burn it to a CD/DVD. If you don’t have a disc, you can create a recovery drive in Windows 10. Now, you can use the bootable disk to migrate Windows 10 to a new faster hard drive.

Why Clone a Hard Drive in Windows 10?

Here are some of the common reasons why users want to clone their drives in Windows 10 laptop or desktop:

Upgrading to a larger capacity drive in Windows 10.

Usually, manufacturers will ship PC/laptops with low-quality small capacity hard drives, typically around 500GBs. This ends up annoying the purchaser as the drive runs out of space after just a few months. Normally, the user will then consider either getting a new PC (but this can cost a lot of money) or upgrading their hard drive to a large capacity SSD by using reliable disk cloning software.

Cloning Windows 10 laptop or desktop hard drive for better performance.

When you receive the low disk space warning error message, you will usually find that your PC/laptop will run slower and slower to the point you can no longer use it. If you’re a gamer, you’ll find that after a few rounds of your favorite online FPS you need an SSD to avoid lag. Because SSDs can make your computer run much faster, accelerate the read and write speed during data transfer, and generally increase overall user satisfaction with the quality of the system.

Best Free Disk Cloning Software for Windows 10

Speaking of the best free disk cloning program, AOMEI Backupper Standard Edition, is one of the top on our list. It’s a straightforward and easy-to-use piece of specialist disk cloning software trusted by millions of users worldwide.

✦ It offers the Disk Clone feature which enables you to clone hard drive to SSD or another HDD easily. It supports various disk types, including all-branded HDDs, SATA/M.2. SSDs, USB drives, and SD cards, etc.

✦ It is embedded with the Partition Clone feature, and you can use it to clone a specific partition instead of a whole disk.

✦ It is designed for Windows 10, 8.1/8, 7, Vista, and XP, 32 bit and 64 bit.

Before Cloning

How To Install Ssd 5 Free On Windows 10 Download

Before cloning Windows 10 hard drive using AOMEI Backupper, there is something you should pay attention to:

Backup important data on destination disk to external hard drive before cloning. All of the data on the target hard drive or SSD will be overwritten during the cloning process.
Check the used space on the original Windows 10 hard drive. If you are planning to clone large hard drive to smaller SSD ( like 500GB to 256GB), you have to make sure the used space on Windows 10 hard drive is less than or equal to the target SSD. Otherwise, it will fail due to insufficient space. Ignore this information if trying to clone to larger HDD/SSD.
Convert dynamic disk to basic disk without losing data at first. If the target disk is a dynamic disk, you will have to convert it first, then you can perform a disk copy in Windows 10 as usual.
Screwdrivers: to open the back cover on your laptop or desktop.
Prepare a 2.5’’ SSD enclosure and SATA to USB cable to connect SSD if you’re running a Windows 10 laptop with only one hard drive slot.

Install Windows To New Ssd

Perform Windows 10 Hard Drive Bootable Clone

To clone Windows 10 hard drive to larger SSD, just refer to the following step-by-step instructions. First of all, please download and install AOMEI Backupper Standard.

1. Click on Clone ->Disk Clone on the main interface.

2. Select the Windows 10 system hard drive (eg: Disk 0) and click Next button to continue.

3. In the next window, select the larger SSD as destination (eg: Disk 1) and click Next>> button to continue.

Tip: you will get the warning to delete or overwrite the destination disk, select Cancel to quit the cloning process and backup now. Or, click OK to go on if you have backed up the data.

4. Tick SSD Alignment to accelerate the reading and writing speed for the larger SSD. And then click Start Clone to clone Windows 10 hard drive to new one.

Install Windows 10 On Ssd From Hdd

5. Click on Finish to exit the window when the cloning process reaches 100%.

Helpful Tips:

Edit Partitions: This feature will allow you to resize the partitions on the target hard drive to take advantage of the increased capacity when you clone a smaller Windows 10 disk to a larger one. You will get unallocated space on the larger SSD drive if you uncheck 'Add unused space to all partitions' (available in paid editions).

Sector by sector clone: It will clone all of the space, including bad sectors, on the original hard disk regardless of whether it has data stored on it. This function will take significantly longer than the normal cloning process. If the “Sector by sector clone” option is enabled, “Edit partitions” is not available. Resize partition with AOMEI Partition Assistant to show full capacity on larger SSD if needed.
Please DO NOT select the Sector by sector clone option when cloning larger HDD to smaller SSD.
If you use AOMEI Backupper to clone MBR to GPT disk, you need to change Legacy to UEFI, and vice versa. Cloning system disk between different partition stype is supported by AOMEI Backupper Professional instead of the free version.
AOMEI Backupper includes the extremely useful “System Clone” feature which will clone only your Windows 10 operating syste